The use of protective eyewear is well known in many fields. Different varieties of protective eyewear are worn to protect the eyes from different hazards, such as mechanical injury, chemical damage or radiation exposure. Increasing levels of protection against mechanical injury are afforded by ordinary safety glasses, safety glasses with sideshields and safety goggles. Protection from chemical damage is also available at different levels with safety glasses with splash shields to protect against liquid chemicals splashing into the eyes and sealed safety goggles which also protect the eyes from vapors and fumes. Different levels of protection from radiation exposure are provided by ordinary sunglasses that protect from direct sunlight exposure, wraparound sunglasses that also protect from sunlight exposure from the sides, so-called glacier glasses with very dark lenses and opaque sideshields, welding goggles, laser protection goggles and lead filled safety glasses for protection from x-rays.
One problem that is apparent from a consideration of these different kinds of protective eyewear is that the more protection they provide, the more uncomfortable, more inconvenient and the less versatile they become. The discomfort and the inconvenience often make people reluctant to use proper protective eyewear even when it is available. The lack of versatility causes a need for a person to have different types of protective eyewear for different activities.
A special problem is experienced by people who must also wear corrective eyeglasses. They often have to wear two pairs of eyewear simultaneously, the first pair for vision correction, then another pair of safety glasses or goggles over them for safety protection. The usual result is more inconvenience, distorted vision and ill fitting protective eyewear which compromises their intended purpose. Some adaptations have been made to overcome these inconveniences. Corrective lenses can be made of shatter resistant polycarbonate and removable sideshields can be added to make dual purpose safety glasses and corrective glasses. Clip-on darkened lenses and side shades may be added to ordinary eyeglasses to convert them into sunglasses. While these solutions offer an improvement over wearing two pairs of eyewear at once, they introduce the inconvenience of additional parts that may be lost or misplaced. Some removable side shields require special tools for mounting and removal which adds to the inconvenience.
Another disadvantage of most of the prior art in protective eyewear is that they usually are made in a one-size-fits-all model. There is no variation or adjustment for different facial features or different bone structures. The result of this is often an improper fit which causes discomfort or gaps in the protection which compromise the safety of the wearer.